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Tuesday, July 3, 2007

SF POLAROID NERD OUT 2007.

this past weekend was a blast!! rebecca and i attended the san francisco Polaroid Nerd Out (a large gathering of polaroid photographers from flickr). it was my first time ever having been in san francisco. (pretty city, but too cold for me). 41 people from all over California/Oregon/Seattle joined forces at Delores park on Sunday. every one who showed up was extremely nice. a man from the east coast, who couldn't attend the Nerd Out, even made and sent polaroid buttons for all of the attendees.

so picture this: a large gang of prehistoric camera-wielding, creative people scattered about playground equipment, taking photos of each other for at least two or three hours. everybody havd an arsenal of cameras (rebecca and i packed five cameras a piece) and came fully stocked with film. (i believe lou shot NINE packs!!) definitely my kind of afternoon. i compared it to a high school reunion for only the kewl kids. i love the feeling (and comfort) of connecting with a group of strangers over a shared interest. it was like meeting up with a bunch of friends you've always wished you had. the whole experience was very reminiscent of how i felt attending 3-11 day in 2004 and 2006. just a bunch of people who are very different, yet very similar- traveling, meeting and reveling in their favorite hobby. it fills you with a lovely sense of belonging and warmth. here's how it went...

saturday:

drove to SF with rebecca. (loooong car ride... took about 6.5-7 hours). drove over the golden gate bridge. took photos. was in awe of the view of the city from the Headlands. crashed at Rebecca's friend laura's apartment. ate thai food with laura and company. rebecca went on a hot date. i went to bed early (shocking, i know) since i had gotten three hours of sleep the previous night.

sunday:

we got my nerd on at the polaroid nerd out!! as i mentioned, 41 polaroid photographers (98% of them from flickr) met up for two hours of photography fun, swinging, chatting and random shenanigans. rebecca and i befriended an awesome girl named arielle. after hundreds of photos were snapped, the crowd dispersed and rebecca and i left the park with a dozen or so flickrites. we walked a decent distance to catch the bus. lou and tod brilliant shot LOTS of random portraits while we were riding on the bus. everybody grabbed some food or jamba juice, then we all chilled outside the japanese gardens (waiting for more flickrites who chose to drive there). then we went up the observation tower in the bay bridge park. amazing view. we all took plenty of photos. eric (a nice guy who built his own holgaroid with a fisheye lens!!) let me use his fisheye lens on my digital camera to take some hilariously unflattering photos of everyone. (will post them on flickr soon).

after that, rebecca and i literally dragged ourselves back to laura's apartment. at which point we were sunburnt, sweaty, EXHAUSTED and in pain from our shoes. everyone had such a blast at the meet-up that some people had already uploaded photos from the event onto flickr!! rebecca and i ate a lot of pretzels and then went to alamo square with laura to see the painted ladies (aka: the full house houses). we took even more photos and ate at a vegetarian restaurant. the BRISK walks to and from bus stops solidified my decision that san francisco is too cold for me.

later we met back up with the remaining polaroid crew around 9:30 at greg's (polaroid jesus's) awesome warehouse apartment. where we saw greg's awesome bedroom ceiling that he painted, ate pizza, took EVEN MORE photos, experimented with light painting, partied, chatted, gossiped, ate pizza, took EVEN MOOOOORE photos. lou took lots of shots of me and rebecca. and watching drew in action as he light painted this photo was mesmerizing. around 3:30 am, we hitched a ride back to laura's apartment with drew and lou. (unfortunately drew's car had gotten broken into the night before so it was a breezy, music-less driving experience. poor drew).

monday:

six-or-so hour long ride back into LA from SF. few pit stops/photo stops along the way. ate lots of pretzels. stopped at a fruit stand and a cattle feed lot. (very sad!!) took some photos. saw pyramid lake. got back to the apartment around 6:00 pm. watched Valley Girl with rick while eating dinner. (awful movie but a REALLY bitchin soundtrack, fer sure!!)

and there you have it!! plans are already in the works for a Polaroid Nerd Out in NYC this october and the Seattle crew is itching to host a Nerd Out as well. rebecca and i plan on hanging out with the LA crew more often.

my photos from this extravaganza can be seen here.other nerds' photos can be seen here.